President of Philippines:

Ferdinand Marcos

Main Life Accomplishments:

He was the tenth president of the Philippines, from 1965 to 1986. In 1972 he declared martial law, which allowed him to stay in power until lifting it in 1981. He has the distinction of being the last Philippine Senate President to be elected to the presidency

 

Basics:

Born: September 11, 1917 in Sarrat, Ilocos Norte

Died: September 28, 1989 (72 years old) at Honolulu, Hawaii

Nationality:  Filipino

Religion: Roman Catholic

Fields: Politics, Military

Main Accomplishments: Few credit Marcos for promoting Filipino culture and nationalism. His 21 years in power with the help of U.S. massive economic aid and foreign loans enabled Marcos to build more schools, hospitals and infrastructure than any of his predecessors combined. Due to his iron rule, he was able to impose order and reduce crime by strict implementation of the law.

 

Chronology of Life Events:

1917

Birth of Ferdinand Marcos

 

1937 

He served as 3rd lieutenant in the Philippine Constabulary (national police) Reserve in 1937. The same year, when he was still a law student at the University of the Philippines

 

1939

In April Marcos is arrested in connection with the 1933 murder of a political rival of his father and has to complete his law degree while in custody. He stands trial in September and is and found guilty. 

 

1940

Marcos appeals his conviction for murder, representing himself before the Philippine Supreme Court. The appeal is upheld and the conviction overturned. Marcos then becomes a trial lawyer in Manila.

 

1941 - 1945

During the Second World War, Marcos serves as an officer in the Philippine armed forces. After the war he claims to have led a guerrilla unit, the Maharlikas, against the Japanese. It is later revealed that he played little or no part in anti-Japanese activities during the war.
1946 Marcos returns to Manila to resume his law practice, becoming an assistant to the Philippines president in 1947.

 

1949

Standing as a Liberal Party candidate, Marcos is elected as a representative for his home province to the Philippine Parliament, becoming the youngest member ever to join the House. He successfully stands for reelection in 1953. It is reported that he uses his political influence for personal enrichment and quickly becomes a multimillionaire.

 

1954

Marcos marries Imelda Romualdez on 1 May.

 

1957

He is again reelected to the House of Representatives. In 1959 he shifts from the lower house to the Senate, topping the election and becoming the opposition leader in parliament. 

 

1961

Marcos drops plans to stand as the Liberal Party candidate for the presidency on the understanding that his nomination will be supported in 1965 In the meantime he is made head of the Liberal Party. In 1963 he is elected Senate president.

 

1964

When the Liberals refuse to honour the 1961 agreement, Marcos switches his allegiance to the Nationalista Party. In November he is nominated as the party's candidate for the presidential election of the following year.

 

1965

Marcos is elected president in November, promising improved living conditions for average Filipinos and land reform. While the first is achieved through an ambitious program of public works, the latter is never seriously tackled. He helps found the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), established in 1967.

 

1969 

Marcos wins a second four-year term as president. He is the first president to be reelected in the short history of the Philippine democracy. However, growth slows and quality of life begins to deteriorate. Violence and crime begin to become everyday occurrences. The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) starts to make inroads in the provinces, with its military wing, the New People's Army (NPA) spreading across the archipelago. 

 

1970

Social unrest continues to build. Student demonstrators attempt to storm the Malacanang Palace, the presidential mansion, on 30 January. Manila and other large cities are rocked by random bombings. Marcos blames leftists and suspends habeas corpus in August 1971, a prelude to martial law.

 

1971

At a constitutional convention opposition delegates introduce a provision to prevent Marcos from remaining as head of state or government once his second term as president has expired. Marcos succeeds in having the ban overturned the following year. 

 

1972

Using the excuse of an alleged assassination attempt against Defence Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, Marcos declares martial law on 21 September, promising to eliminate poverty and injustice and create a "new society". It is later revealed that the assassination attempt had been staged by the military. 

 

1973

A new constitution allowing Marcos to stay in office indefinitely and to rule by decree is introduced. The result is confirmed by a fraudulent referendum enabling him to continue as president until the end of martial law and to arbitrarily appoint all government officials, including members of the judiciary. Imelda Marcos is made governor of Manila and minister of human settlements and ecology. 

 

1976 

The constitution is amended further to allow Marcos to continue to rule by degree even after the lifting of martial law. 

 

1981

Marcos proclaims the end of martial law on 17 January. He wins an overwhelming majority in a presidential election held in June, but the vote is rigged and is boycotted by the main opposition groups.

 

1985 

In November Marcos announces that an election for president will be held on 7 February of the following year. Corazon Aquino announces that she will stand as a candidate.

 

1986 

The election is held on schedule but the results are contested, with the opposition and Roman Catholic Church claiming widespread fraud and intimidation. Marcos is proclaimed the official winner on 15 February, sparking a rebellion by Defence Minister Enrile, armed forces vice-chief-of-staff Fidel Ramos, and the commander of the Philippine police, who also believe that the vote has been rigged. Calling on Marcos to resign, the rebels receive the backing of the church and the support of the people. The armed forces either join the rebellion or, faced-off by massive crowds gathered around the rebel's camp, decline to intervene.

 

On 25 February the Marcoses run, abandoning the presidential palace and flying to Hawaii in the US. Their 20-year regime is at its end. As the Marcoses flee, Corazon Aquino is sworn in as president, riding in on the massive wave of 'People's Power'.

 

When Marcos arrives in Hawaii he is said to be carrying suitcases containing jewels, 24 gold bricks and certificates for billions of dollars of gold bullion. His Swiss bank accounts are estimated to contain between US$3 billion and US$35 billion stolen from his country. The Philippine's foreign debt is about US$28 billion.

 

1987 

It is reported that Marcos is conspiring from his base in Hawaii to launch an armed invasion of the Philippines and again seize power. 

 

1988

Marcos is indicted by a federal grand jury in New York in the US for offences including mail fraud, fraudulent misappropriation of property and obstruction of justice.

 

1989 He dies of a heart attack on 28 September while in exile in Honolulu, Hawaii, and before his trial.

Early Life:

 

Marcos was born on September 11, 1917 in Batac, a small town in Ilocos Norte. Named by his parents, Mariano Marcos and Josefa Edralin, after Ferdinand VII of Spain, baptized into the Philippine Independent Church, Marcos was a champion debater, boxer, swimmer and a wrestler while in the University of the Philippines.

Marcos graduated cum laude with a law degree from the U.P. College of Law in 1939 and was elected to the Pi Gamma Mu international honor society. As a young law student of the University of the Philippines, Marcos was indicted and convicted of the murder of Julio Nalundasan, the man who twice defeated his father for a National Assembly seat. While in detention, he studied for and passed the bar examination with one of the highest scores in history. He appealed his conviction and argued his case before the Supreme Court of the Philippines. His father, who had an important voice due to his political position, coerced the Supreme Court to acquit him of the charges.

When the Second World War broke out, Marcos was called to arms in defense of the Philippines against the Japanese. He was a combat intelligence officer of the 21st Infantry division. He fought in the three-month Battle of Bataan in 1942, and was one of the victims of the Bataan Death March, a Japanese war crime in which thousands of prisoners of war were forcibly transported after being defeated. He was released later. Though he was captured once more at Fort Santiago, he escaped and joined the guerrilla movements against the Japanese. He claimed to have been one of the guerrilla leaders in Luzon and that his greatest exploit was the Battle of Besang Pass, though the veracity of his claims had been widely questioned. However, genuine photos taken right after the war showed Marcos with decorations on his chest: a Distinguished Service Cross, a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart ]. Subsequent claims to other awards proved to be a point of contention among historians.

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Wife Background:

 

Imelda Remedios Visitacion Romualdez-Marcos was born on July 2, 1929 in San Juan de Dios Hospital in Manila. Her parents were Vicente Orestes Lopez Romualdez (of Spanish blood) and Remedios Trinidad, the second wife of the widowed Vicente. Her paternal ancestors, the Lopezes of Leyte (The eldest daughter of Friar Francisco Lopez, the Lopez patriarch, Dona Trinidad Lopez Romualdez is Imelda's paternal grand mother) , founded the town of Tolosa, Leyte .[citation needed]Her own branch of the family was not political. Her father was a scholarly man more interested in music and culture than in public life. Her mother, a dressmaker who grew up in an orphanage in Manila, is a Trinidad from the town of Baliuag, Bulacan, famed for the charm of its women.

Imelda spent her childhood in the shadow of the Malacañang Palace in San Miguel District in Manila, since her family then lived near San Miguel Church. After his second wife Remedios died, and their home foreclosed, Vicente moved his family back to Leyte to live with relatives, where Imelda earned a bachelor's degree in education at St. Paul's College."

She also became a beauty queen. At the age of 18, she was crowned the "Rose of Tacloban," became "Miss Leyte", went to Manila in 1953, and was named the "Muse of Manila" by then Manila Mayor, Arsenio Lacson, after she protested her loss in the Miss Manila pageant.

In 1954, Imelda met then-Ilocos Norte Congressman Ferdinand E. Marcos. After a whirlwind courtship in Baguio during Holy Week, they were married in May of that year at the Manila Pro-Cathedral Church with President Ramon Magsaysay as principal sponsor. They have four children: Maria Imelda "Imee" Marcos, Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr., Irene Marcos, and Aimee Marcos, who was adopted.

In 1966, Ferdinand Marcos became the 10th President of the Philippines. Together with Imelda, he would rule the Philippines as a Dictator from September 21, 1972 up to until he was ousted on February 1986 in the famous People Power Revolution when he fled the Philippines.

 

Father Background:

 

Mariano Marcos was a self-disciplined and ambitious man who graduated young from a Manila teaching school who later became a schoolmaster in Laoag, Ilocos Norte. He plunged into politics and was twice elected as Congressman.

 

Mother Background:

Josefa Edralin was a landowner’s daughter and a onetime town beauty who herself, chose to teach. While Mariano immersed himself in politics, Josefa took care of their children, Ferdinand, Pacifico, Elizabeth and Fortuna.

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